The First Meeting
by Sugarbubbleslove
Summary: The first time he met Commander Jane Shepard, he had a feeling she was going to be trouble…even if he didn't know who she was at first. Pre-Mass Effect


Title: The First Meeting

Characters: Kaidan & Fem-Shepard with a smattering of Anderson

Rating: Teen

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone/anything from the forum Mass Effect. Bioware owns Mass Effect and its characters. There is no copyright infringement intended. I do not make any profit/money or take any credit.

Summary: The first time he met Commander Jane Shepard, he had a feeling she was going to be trouble…even if he didn't know who she was at first.

Timeline: Pre Mass Effect 1

Warning: No spoilers.

Author's Notes: See Below

The First Meeting

Quick footsteps hurried across the Cargo Bay floor, coming to a stop near the MAKO before they looked around then knelt down. They peered under the MAKO before being satisfied that there was no one around. Rolling onto their back, they slid under the MAKO and began humming.

"Hey baby girl, sorry it took me so long to get back to you. _Everyone_ wanted to talk to me. You would think a promotion means less talking and more action but _no_, it's _all_ about the talking," there was a sigh. "Maybe I should have retired."

A hand snuck out, grabbing one of the tools from the kit box and pulled it under. There was a faint grinding of metal against metal, the heel of a boot occasionally thudding against the metal flooring in rhythm to her humming.

Soon her humming and thudding gave way to silence as she concentrated on what she was doing that she ended up missing the hiss of the lift door opening.

Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko groaned when the lift touched the ground before the door came down to reveal the dim cool Cargo Bay, something he was grateful for. He was beginning to the feel the start of a migraine and he needed a place to hide.

He forced himself to walk over to his locker, absently noticing the new MAKO that hadn't been there the last time he had come down. He was about to open his locker when the blissful silence was broken.

"Who the hell has been touching you?" he heard an unfamiliar female voice demand and stopped in his tracks, looking around but he failed to spot anyone. "They completely screwed up the lines. If I were to drive you, you would have failed to stop and I have no desire to die just because some idiot doesn't know the difference between brakes and oil lines."

His brown eyes were drawn down to the underside of the MAKO and he saw a pair of boots, he had missed the first time round, sticking out. He reached out his left hand, his biotic flaring awaiting for his command while his right rested on his holstered pistol. There shouldn't be anyone else down here.

"Hello?" he called out warily. He noticed the boots stiffening before they were pulled under the MAKO causing him to stop in his tracks, frowning. He waited for a few moments but the figure made no intention to come out and he walked closer to the vehicle, now concerned that a child had snuck aboard.

He knelt down and looked under only to meet the youthful face of a young woman, who wasn't any older than him. She had a 'deer-in-the-headlight' expression. Both of them stared at each other for a moment before she broke the silence.

"Hi," she greeted lamely.

"Hi," he greeted back as he looked around before catching her eyes again. "Do you plan on ever coming out?"

"Thinking about it," she replied before she bit her lower lip. "Kinda nice under here though." He raised his eyebrows.

"If you say so," his tone made it very clear that he thought she was nuts. She rolled her eyes, momentarily shocking him at the sights of whites against the darkness. After a few more minutes of staring at each other, his back began to protest at the position and he decided that he needed to get her out. "Here," he reached out, holding a hand out. She looked at it before meeting his gaze once more and sighed. She slid a hand into his and he pulled her out, straightening up as he did and she came up with him.

With the lighting, he could see her better. She had dark blue eyes and dark brown hair that was currently pulled back in a low ponytail. She had freckles along the bridge of her nose and cheekbones, which he had to admit was cute. There were also streaks of grease on her face, one along her forehead, one on her left cheek and another along her right jawline.

She wore the N7 causal outfit and there were streaks of grease on her clothes. For some reason, they seemed like they belonged there, as strange as it sounded before he realised that he had been too deep in his thoughts. She was watching him expectantly.

"I'm Kaidan Alenko, the LT," he introduced himself.

"Oh, Jane," she stuck out her hand. He shook it only for a few sparks to fly causing her to squeal and him to curse yanking his hand away from hers.

"Sorry, I forgot to be grounded," he admitted, clenching his fist to dispel the lingering flare.

"You're a biotic?" she asked. He gave her a short nod, bracing himself for fear or anger but he got something unexpected. "That's so cool!" She was practically bouncing and he gaped at her. "Is it true that you can read minds or is that something people made up? Cause if you can read minds, then I'm gonna be really embarrassed yet I still think it is kinda hot," she rambled before staring at him expectantly.

"…You think mind-reading is hot?" he finally found his voice.

"Well yeah," she told him before frowning. "Providing the biotic can actually control if they want to read minds or not. I mean, having the chance to read your lover's mind and know what they want and use it against them, yeah, it's kinda hot. Especially with the fantasies they could have of you…" she suddenly blushed and cleared her throat. "You don't have mind reading abilities…do you?"

"…No," he finally admitted, enjoying the way she squirmed as she waited for his answer. His amusement only increased at the two obvious emotions on her face, disappointment and relief. "You're not scared?"

"What? Because you're a biotic?" she asked and he nodded. She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "No, I think people are idiots for believing you guys are hell bent on bending us to your will. But I also get it. Your talents are still unknown and you guys are still finding out what you can do. It's not that far-fetched for them to believe that you can read and control minds yet are just hiding it to protect yourself." She shrugged. "There's been no evidence to support the theories so that's all they are; theories."

He didn't know what to say to that. He had never really met anyone, who wasn't a biotic, being open-minded about them. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you?"

"L2," he explained and felt a sense of male satisfaction at the impressed look on her face.

"I've heard L2 are supposed to be really powerful," she frowned. "But didn't they come with side-effects?"

"I'm one of the lucky ones, I only get migraines and I need to take medication to manage them," he explained. She nodded.

"Well, it sounds like you will be really handy to have on the battlefield." She eyed him and he felt his cheeks heating up before he cleared his throat, his brown eyes scanning the room behind her before he remembered the MAKO

"So…what are you doing to the MAKO?" he asked, looking over her shoulder at the vehicle before looking at her once more.

"I'm making sure she fit for riding. Some idiot got mixed up with her brakes and oil lines so I had to fix it."

"You can fix the MAKO?" he asked and she nodded.

"She's actually mine. The Alliance gave her to me and I've taken good care of her. I told them not to let anyone touch her when she was transported to the Normandy but whoever touched her didn't get the message," she explained, shaking her head. "Bastard better hope I don't get my hands on him for touching my girl."

"She's yours?" he latched onto the one part that made some sense to him. He wasn't going to touch the threat, he didn't know who was in charge of the MAKO when it arrived and he wasn't going to get in her way either.

"Yep, Alliance ordered me to take lessons and I passed so she's all mine. I'm the only one allowed to drive her but I will need another two people, one to manage the turrets and the other to man the scanner." She rubbed her hands in glee. "Can't wait to test drive her out in the wild. It's a good way to test her stress levels."

"…You haven't tested her stress levels?" he croaked out, hoping that he would never have to step foot in the MAKO.

"No, it's not as if they gave me a lot of time to try her out. I've done the basic tests and she passed them. But really, I will only be able to tell once we get on foreign worlds and test her out there."

"Oh…good," his brain instantly rattled off all the things that could wrong while they were on a foreign planet and not to mention, Normandy wasn't allowed to land on planets either, unless it was an emergency, due to her size. She didn't seem to notice his less than enthusiasm.

"You're a biotic…aren't biotic meant to be good techie?" she asked before a bright smile crossed her face and he felt a surge of panic, his fight or flight instinct kicking in. "You could man the scanner!"

"Er no," he blurted out before giving her a sheepish grin. "I think you would probably be better off finding someone else to work the scanner. Besides, I have a problem being flung out of a ship while in a MAKO."

"Heights?" her eyebrows shot up.

"Landing," he corrected and she snickered. "It's not funny," he scolded her. "You have to put your trust in the driver's hands and that the boosters will work when pressed."

"Oh, my baby's boosters has no problem working," she told him before they descended into silence and she frowned. "You know…that _could_ be taken in the wrong way."

"Yeah," he croaked out, shaking his head to get rid of the image. She turned around and walked over to the MAKO, pulling up the hood and locking it into place.

"She will be fine with the drop out. You just need steel nerves," she told him, leaning in to make sure everything was in the right place, her hands running over the wires to make sure they were connected and nothing had been damaged during the trip.

"I think you need a death wish," Kaidan muttered. She laughed, turning her head to look at him with amusement shining.

"You really don't like the MAKO, do you?" she shook her head, turning back. "I am actually surprised at how many people hate them. Usually you would have guys raving about vehicles, this thing? She gets no love."

"I guess it all depends on your taste in love," he told her as he came to stand next to her.

"Nice excuse," he heard her mutter before she straightened up, satisfied her MAKO was in perfect condition before she closed the hood. "At least tell me you like guns."

"I like guns," he assured her with a grin, which widen at her exaggerated look of relief. "But I like my tools more." She arched an eyebrow and he flushed. "Not that I meant…I mean I…" he groaned and she laughed, patting his arm.

"It's alright, I get it," she assured him. "You like your Omni-Tool. What do you use?"

"Logic Arrest," he immediately told her before taking a step back, cradling his arm. "I don't want to hear anything against it," he warned her as she opened her mouth. She stared at him bewildered before shaking his head.

"I don't know anything about tools!" she protested. "I was just about to ask if that was a good version. I just use whatever Captain Anderson says I should use."

"You…you don't know about Omni-Tools?" he asked, aghast. She scoffed.

"Coming from the guy who doesn't like the MAKO," she reminded. "I know how to do the basics with it, delivering Medi-Gel, sending information. I suck at hacking though," she shrugged. "I use the Savant version because Captain Anderson, and my mother, said it was a good version for me. I mostly like it because of the shiny razor we get to slice people up with."

"…Do you happen to have a blood lust hidden around, somewhere?" Kaidan asked dryly.

"No," she replied in a confused tone. "Why?"

"Never mind," he muttered, wondering just what the woman in front of him was. She was different from the others, which he was still deciding if that was a good or bad thing. They stared at each other for a moment before she broke the silence.

"Out of curiosity, what are you?" she tilted her head.

"Earth born," he told her, "You?"

"Spacer, born and raised in space," she told him with a curtsy before shrugging her shoulders at his bewildered look. "Seemed like the right thing to do."

"The right thing to do?" he asked, confused and intrigued by the woman in front of him.

"My parents are Alliance, my mother is an XO and my father retired. Trust me; there was a lot of saluting in my child and teenaged-hood. I decided that declaring that I am a spacer should be accompanied with a curtsy," she explained and got an amused look. "I was five at the time, alright? I thought I knew everything in the Galaxy and that my word was the law. Give me a break." She shoved his shoulder as he laughed.

"Bet your parents loved that," he calmed down. A smile tugged her at lips as her eyes took on a faraway look.

"My dad thought it was hilarious while my mom indulged me. I think she was just glad that I was showing some girl tenancies. There weren't a lot of girls the same as me so I was hanging out with boys which meant we were getting into trouble." He chuckled at the thought of her as a kid, he could imagine it.

He opened his mouth to say something when the lift door hissed open and they turned to see Captain Anderson standing there. His dark eyes scanned the room before he spotted them. Both of them straightened and saluted as he neared them. He dismissed them with a wave of hand and both of them relaxed.

"Ah, Lieutenant Alenko," Captain Anderson greeted. "I see you've met Commander Shepard." He stared at Anderson for a moment when comprehension dawned on him and his eyes snapped back to the sheepish blue eyes of his Commander.

"Sorry," she muttered, shifting on her feet and clearing her throat.

"You…" he couldn't think of anything to say as he just stared at her. Anderson looked between the two of them before he sighed, his brown eyes coming to rest on his squirming Commander.

"You introduced yourself by Jane," he said and she flushed, a defiant glint entering her eyes.

"It's my name," she reminded the older man, crossing her arms. "Honestly, I'm beginning to be convinced everyone thinks I was born with the name 'Commander'. I've checked my birth certificate more than enough time to be sure."

"You are supposed to introduce yourself by your whole name."

"Which is Jane Alana Shepard, not Commander," she retorted. Kaidan's dark eyes just swung back and forth between the stubborn expression on Jane's face and the exasperation on the Captain's face.

"You…" Anderson trailed off, at loss for words before he shook his head. "You are too much like your father, that's what you are." Jane sent a mischievous smile in Kaidan's direction when Anderson wasn't looking.

Soon Anderson sighed before he came back to the original reason why he was looking for the Commander. "Now that I have found you, you need to go up and get changed. The Councillors want to meet the newest commander." Kaidan raised an eyebrow when a whimper came from Shepard and saw her looking at Anderson with a pleading expression.

"But sir, I really need to finish the MAKO…" Anderson just slipped an arm around her waist, pulling her toward the lift as she protested even more but ended up getting a fatherly glare from the older man and her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Fine, I'll get dressed up for the Councillors," she mumbled as they stepped into the lift and she saw him.

Kaidan saluted them and noticed her eyes filled with amusement. "See you around, Alenko," she told him with a smile. "I look forward to working with you." The doors to the lift came up, blocking his view and he sighed, shaking his head as he came out of his stance.

She's going to be trouble, he just knew it…but somehow, he didn't think he would mind the ride.

The End

Even as a paragon, she was still smirking at the thought of fighting and giving people threats like they were sweets, wasn't that hard to be convinced she was a mischievous kid.

For the N7 Casual clothes – I'm referring to the ME3 – first default outfit without the shoulder parts.


End file.
